SA’s ailing asset
18 Sep 2012
RYAN VREDE writes the Currie Cup has completely lost its prestige and is now no more than a platform for some young players to stake a claim for a Super Rugby contract.
I’ve watched every round of the tournament and have been completely uninspired. Certainly there are a handful of promising young players emerging, but overall the standard is decidedly mediocre for what used to be South Africa’s showpiece tournament. This of course has been the case for some time, but the quality on offer in 2012 is the lowest it has been in years, even with the current six-team format.
South Africans often boast of their bountiful player resources. This country is undoubtedly blessed in that regard, by quantity doesn’t translate to quality if the Currie Cup is an indication.
The quality will rise in the closing rounds of the league phase when the Springboks return and reach its climax in the playoffs. This is what South Africans will have to become used to – two and a half months of mediocrity followed by an injection of quality for a couple of weeks.
An extended Super Rugby tournament has contributed in part to this. The wizards at the South African Rugby Union who negotiated the Super Rugby deal did so at the expense of the world’s oldest domestic competition. This made financial sense to them, of course, as there was more cash to be made from broadcasting revenue and commercial opportunities that arose from Super Rugby than there were for the Currie Cup. Australia, with no domestic competition to rival South Africa or New Zealand, shafted their partners in the negotiation and emerged as the big winner, with more Australia derbies and a guaranteed team in the play-offs despite having the weakest conference.
More teams will be accommodated in Super Rugby in 2015, which is likely to mean the tournament cutting deeper into August. Where will that leave the Currie Cup? Will we see a one-round, five match league phase followed by semi-finals and a final? It would certainly heighten the stakes and make for more entertaining viewing, albeit not because of the quality of the product. Some club-standard players will continue to give their mates reason to toast with their TV cameos, when those players should have been watching from their couches. But this is what the Currie Cup has become – the playground of the ordinary.
There is no immediate solution on the horizon. There is no way Sanzar will trim Super Rugby to pit only the very best teams against each other and in so doing reducing the time it takes to complete the tournament. In an ideal world I’d have a Super 10 that starts in early February and finishes 11 weeks later, with a one-round, six-team Currie Cup commencing thereafter. If, for example, Western Province host the Sharks in 2012, they will travel to Kings Park in 2013.
This would allow Springboks players to compete in the Currie Cup before the June Tests. The game’s most important assets – the players and supporters – win, with a higher quality product and roughly the same amount of game time.
This is a pipe dream. The tournament that was once the pride of a nation is being reduced to rubble, serving as no more than an opportunity for aspirant young bucks to impress their coaches. So sad.
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614 Comments
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19 Sep 2012, 13:55 pm
@nama1-486: I just think we over complicate things, for me personally sport should not be used as vehicle to punish or reward political issues. You guys are using rugby as a platform to discuss political issues……I am not saying your political opinions are incorrect I am just saying using sport it not the right way to do it.
19 Sep 2012, 13:59 pm
When all else fails and I mean all else, take away what will hurt the most.
19 Sep 2012, 14:06 pm
@rossoneri-487: It is impossible to have a discussion of this nature with someone who has been so badly affected by our countries political history. I am sorry that this is something that has affected our country and you personally. Let’s hope its something that never happpens again.
19 Sep 2012, 14:07 pm
@katman-498: Cheeky Watson said no to those Bok colours. And believe me, after seeing how harmful those colours are, I have not particular pains about them at all. Sometimes people have to stand up for what is right and what is wrong, and too many white South Africans, Springbok rugby players included, knew it was wrong, but did nothing.
You are saying that even if murderers were giving you Springbok colours you would take it? That is essentially what the Pre 1994 Boks did. Ask Biko and many others.
Like I said. Not bad people. Just cowards.
19 Sep 2012, 14:14 pm
@rossoneri-504: Ok now you are moving into the rabid non sensical fundamentalist space. So you classify all pre 1994 boks in the same way as murderers The instinct here is to hit back with an equally silly response but what’s the point? Those of us that want a better tomorrow need to put the past behind us and learn from our mistakes. Thise like you who need revenge to appease their bitterness are the speed bumps we need to get over as a country
19 Sep 2012, 14:14 pm
@rossoneri-504: Ja, whatever Rossi. You would have done exactly the same. After-the-fact bravery doesn’t count for poop.
19 Sep 2012, 14:19 pm
@rossoneri-504: Thats news to some honest rugby supporters… Come. Educate us.
Tell us when Cheeky the Liberator said no to Bok colours… That is, what year he was to be awarded these colours, which side he was supposed to be playing against, and the player who he would have usurped, obviously being the superior candidate for the position he surely must have been…
I suspect Cheeky did not have an opportunity to decline a Bok cap, not due to his liberation “credentials” but rather because he just might not have been close to good enough…
But then again maybe I just dont know enough about these “liberation” Boks who said NO to the Green and Gold…
So educate please… If you actually can.
19 Sep 2012, 14:21 pm
@Skeppie-501:
That’s a bit idealistic, I think.
The days are long gone where people stopped a war to play sport before they continue with the war again, like during the AB War.
Today sport may very well be the reason to start a war.
Sport is entrenched in the lives of many people…as is politics, especially in a country like ours with its unique history. Impossible to separate them nowadays.
“You guys are using rugby as a platform to discuss political issues……”
Only because the politics of the day had a direct hand in how rugby was played back then. How can you separate them now? It was because of politics that certain people were not allowed to play for the Bok team.
19 Sep 2012, 14:25 pm
@nama1-508: “Only because the politics of the day had a direct hand in how rugby was played back then.”… Nothing is new under the sun. Politics then, politics now.
“It was because of politics that certain people were not allowed to play for the Bok team.”… Racial policies then, racial policies now…
Nothing new under the sun.
19 Sep 2012, 14:26 pm
At WP Cricket they invited all ex players from the old WPCB (non-whites) and WPCA (everbody else) to Newlands to hand everybody their official colours. This gesture was embraced by the entire WP Cricketing fraternity.
The WP Rugby fraternity fail to acknowledge any player before 1994. That’s why the old boys are not involved with the current structures.
19 Sep 2012, 14:38 pm
As a 21-year old, Watson played for the Eastern Province team which lost by one point to the visiting All Blacks in 1976. Mona Badela, black journalist and president of the KwaZakhele Rugby Union (Kwaru), invited him to practise his Christian convictions by coaching a black side in the townships. When Watson took the black rugby team to practise at the Saint George’s sports ground in Port Elizabeth, they met with strong opposition.
Watson was selected as a wing for the Junior Springboks in 1976. However he declined an invitation to participate in the trails for the 1976 senior Springbok team.
When: 1976
Against who: All Blacks
What player: Chris Pope / Gerrie Germishuys ? Edrich Krantz
“I suspect Cheeky did not have an opportunity to decline a Bok cap, not due to his liberation “credentials” but rather because he just might not have been close to good enough…”
Playing for the Junior Boks and then get an invitation to the trials for the senior Bok team, indicates to me that he was pretty close to becoming a Bok.
The three players who played at wing in that series are not really known as great players, are they?
19 Sep 2012, 14:40 pm
@Heavens Game-509:
So how do we change that?
19 Sep 2012, 14:42 pm
@nama1-511:
Nama, Gerrie Germishuys is one of my all time favourite Boks.
19 Sep 2012, 14:46 pm
@Jeraldjay-510:
Exactly Jeraldjay.
Some people have no problem that the history of rugby under SARU (pre-1992) be expunged but they are very quick to feel threatened when somebody just mentions that the same be done for the history of rugby under the SARR.
Probably want people to believe that the “rest of SA” only started to play rugby after 1992.
19 Sep 2012, 14:47 pm
@nama1-508: I understand your point here, no-one is arguing how wrong it was to exclude players based on their skin colour. I am not defending SARU. All I am saying is that it is not fair to erase everyones records based on a decision by a governing body. Maybe its a bit personal for me, as a white male I am not happy being type casted as a racist.
19 Sep 2012, 14:47 pm
@nama1-511: Ahem… How does declining an invite to participate in trials translate to “declining Bok colours”…
He must have been awarded Bok colours to actually be able to decline them…
Ag, maybe I either see through or just dont understand this constant revisionism of Bok and SA history at the least of lies and exaggerations at worst….
19 Sep 2012, 14:52 pm
@Jeraldjay-513:
Not a very skillful wing imo.
Speed to burn though.
19 Sep 2012, 14:57 pm
Compared to a sport like soccer, rugby did absolutely nothing to object to the Nats sports policy. Early on, the leading black and white teams defied the government and arranged games against each other in Swaziland. A little later a game was organised between Highlands Park and Pirates at Orlando stadium. Tso Modise, the PSL head at the time explained to me a few years ago what happened. Apparently, when the Highlands bus arrived at Soweto it was met by an enormous police contingent who said they couldn’t go any further as they didn’t have permission to enter the township, let alone play a soccer game there. After an hour of stalemate, Tso took aside the officer in charge and pointed out that there were 50,000 black supporters in the stadium who’d been waiting for hours and were now very, very restless, and that if the game was cancelled he didn’t think that they’d take it very well. The officer finally got the message and let them in.
Now, those white players at Highlands Park didn’t back down and remain passive about the Nats sports laws, yet our rugby establishment kept silent.
19 Sep 2012, 15:00 pm
@nama1-517:
Poor old Gerrie really was shown his arse against the ’74 lions.
19 Sep 2012, 15:03 pm
@Heavens Game-516:
There was a possibility of Bok colors at least when he got the invite, remember?
Also if you take into account that he did play as a junior Bok against the very same All Blacks and did well for EP against them, that he probably was favorite to take up one wing spot.
I see you conveniently left out your assertion that “he just might not have been close to good enough…”
19 Sep 2012, 15:04 pm
@David-519: and in ’81 he ruled against the Lions!
19 Sep 2012, 15:07 pm
@nama1-520: Nams who do you support provincially and nationally?
19 Sep 2012, 15:11 pm
@David-519:
He was….. but then again, they all were.
That was a great Lions team. It was that tour that started my interest in rugby. Bought my first pair of rugby boots while they were here…. in Jan Ellis’ sport shop in Windhoek, where we lived at the time.
19 Sep 2012, 15:12 pm
@Zandberg Jansen-521:
Yup, 4 tries. But look at the team.
19 Sep 2012, 15:13 pm
@Zandberg Jansen-521:
1980.
19 Sep 2012, 15:19 pm
@Zandberg Jansen-521:
Lions were here in 1980.
He did have a good series if only because of the counter attacking abilties of Gysie Pienaar, who were absolutely brilliant in that series.
@Skeppie-522:
Bokke, WP/Stormers.
In the past it was France because of two players: Jean-Pierre Rives and Serge Blanco.
Also because all my friends were AB and I tend not to follow the crowd.
19 Sep 2012, 15:19 pm
@nama1-520: A possibility? Then a favourite…?
Sheezus, Nama, I actually reckon you either telling porkies or dont know what the fck you talking about…
But nevertheless judge them by the heroes they have and it seems Cheeky is a “liberating” hero to many… Of all the 2 bit heroes to pick, pick one who maybe could have been a Bok, and was too chicken to take up arms against his “apparent” aggressor.
19 Sep 2012, 15:25 pm
@nama1-526: So all your peers supported the AB’s and not the Boks because of apartheid?
19 Sep 2012, 15:31 pm
@Skeppie-505: Read Skeppie. I said “accepted Bok caps from Murderers.” The only thing I accused your pre-1994 Boks of are being cowards! GUTLESS COWARDS!
19 Sep 2012, 15:36 pm
@nama1-511: Thank you Nama. Like I said. They had two choices. They were either full blown racists, or gutless cowards. Some players of the game made a choice to stick to their principles, be that to embrace racism or reject it, and some people chose to be cowards.
19 Sep 2012, 15:40 pm
@rossoneri-529: And the only thing I am accusing you of is being a racist. We do not need bigots like you in our country.
19 Sep 2012, 15:40 pm
@rossoneri-529: Yup, a coward like Cheeky Watson… An Eastern Cape speciality it seems… rather accept a cap from a thief and a liar than from a murderer… Honour amongst thieves I suppose… Nevertheless still cowards – scared that the truth doesnt fit a neat generalisation.
19 Sep 2012, 15:43 pm
@Heavens Game-527:
Oh man, HG!!!
Still not saying anything about “he just might not have been close to good enough…”
Go ahead and deflect.
@Skeppie-528:
Yes.
You sound surprise.
We also supported the rebel cricket teams of Graham Gooch, Lawrence Rowe, Kim Hughes against the SA team.
Boris Becker against Kevin Curren.
Davey Moore against Charlie Weir.
John Tate/Mike Weaver against Kallie Knoetze/Gerrie Coetzee
Any team but the Bokke or anybody else against a white SA sportsman..
That’s the way it was.
19 Sep 2012, 15:46 pm
@nama1-533: Sad times indeed…
19 Sep 2012, 15:46 pm
@Heavens Game-527: Cheeky is not my Hero, just an example of a rugby player who was not a coward like some others. Strange though how he is hated for this stance by, shall we say, some of the bloggers who don’t tan as easily as I do.
I have often wondered whether it is because he highlights the one shame that many have to live with. When they all saw the government of the day was unjust, they kept quiet and enjoyed the fruits, whilst the Watson house burnt to the ground. While Justice Albie Sack was bombed in his car, while Biko was murdered. etc etc etc And today, you want to talk about pre-1994 rugby heros? Hahahahahaha.
19 Sep 2012, 15:48 pm
@nama1-533: No not surprised at all, I cannot claim that I wouldn’t have done the same thing so no judging here, just interested.
19 Sep 2012, 15:51 pm
@rossoneri-535: And have you ever put yourself in the shoes of a white person?
19 Sep 2012, 15:51 pm
@nama1-533: A trial is hardly close… A trial could be made up of anything from 2 – 4 teams of possibly 20 per team…
Say 80 players for a trial with 2 wings per team at least with possibly 3 in contention considering that a coach could pick a 15 on the wing…
We then have 3 x 4 possible candidates… So, Cheeky as a trialist could possibly have been one of 12 players who could have been picked for the Boks…
Hardly close… I suspect his refusal of a place in the trials was more due to being scared of failure more than a crisis of conscience…
19 Sep 2012, 15:53 pm
@Skeppie-531: Skeppie you are advocating that the pre-1994 Boks records and achievement must be lauded and praised. I’m saying they were probably not all just a bunch of racist. No. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and just call them cowards. Because they accepted a situation where they exclude fellow citizens. What is hitting the nerve is that their stance can be related to many South African who made choices in those days. And if you twitching in your seat, I’ll say if the shoe fits. That does not make me a racist for saying it out loud. But keep pretending and while you at it. Go kiss your poster of Danie Craven who said no person of colour will EVER be a Bok!
19 Sep 2012, 15:54 pm
@Zandberg Jansen-534:
That it was. Sad indeed.
How then can people blame those who are still not willing to make the paradigm shift?
Some were quick to make it, some took a bit of time (I was one of them) and some will never make that shift. Should they be castigated forever for not making that paradigm shift?
19 Sep 2012, 15:56 pm
@rossoneri-535: I suspect his “heroic” stance is nothing more than romantic revisionism gone all wild and wonderful… I doubt any Watson house was burnt to the ground by anything other than faulty wires…
The Tales of Cheeky Watson, the Liberator seem to belong increasingly with Jack and the Beanstalk or Little Red Riding Hood.
That is the real truth here.
19 Sep 2012, 16:01 pm
@Skeppie-537: You mean, all people, not just white. Being faced with a tough decision, that can have a massive impact on your life and family, but will allow you to hold onto your principles is a matter of character. There are many white people even in the dark ol days of apartheid SA, that held onto principles and their families suffered for it, and have their self respect. It all boils down to what you can live with. Some people just develop amnesia and speak in hushed tones about what their Dad used to say around the dinner table in 1982.
People just have to deal. Then we can all move on.
19 Sep 2012, 16:01 pm
@rossoneri-535: Shut up Rossi. This is starting to get really embarrassing for you. I understand your stance, but the extremes of your statements are cringeworthy. Keep quiet for a while and think about it.
19 Sep 2012, 16:01 pm
Danie Craven was a great man and a great administrator… He puts the current SARU fools right in the shade of the shadow of an ANZAC outhouse…
He certainly shows up the “hero” Cheeky Watson to be nothing more than a snake-oil salesman in terms of morality or substance…
19 Sep 2012, 16:05 pm
@rossoneri-539: The reason I asked about being in a white persons shoes is that clearly you have never thought about it. I will bet most of the boks pre 1994 had no idea the wrong their government were doing. They were sad pawns in the whole sick game of apartheid. Just like you seem to be infected with hate, they were probably indoctrinated to beleive non white people were the enemy. Why now take away their rugby acheivements? What has this to do with politics? Instead of wanting to punish for the past why not build a better environment going forward?
19 Sep 2012, 16:06 pm
@katman-543: Twitching twitching twitching….:lol:
19 Sep 2012, 16:07 pm
@Heavens Game-538:
OK, let’s start from scratch wrt trials back then. A team consisted of 17 players. 15 starters and 2 reserves
1. 6 teams play Currie Cup.
2. Coach invites players to the trials. I’m not too sure he will invite every wing who played at the time.
3. Cheeky put in a sterling performance for EP against the AB. Got selected for the Junior Boks.
4. Gets invite to Bok trials.
So no, I don’t think they would’ve invited 80 players (12 wings) to a trial.
You make up your mind whether Cheeky had a chance of making the team…but then again, you already have.
Most rugby pundits back then believe he would’ve played.
19 Sep 2012, 16:09 pm
@Skeppie-545: Hahahahahahahaha.
That was very funny. I’m done. OMG. So nobody had a clue? Hahahahahaha. Apartheid Government put the Men in Black to shame!
19 Sep 2012, 16:13 pm
@rossoneri-548: If it makes you feel better to beleive all white people are evil then go ahead, I am sorry you need to feel this way. Think about it and then come over to our new country where we actually judge people based on who they are as opposed to the colour of their skin.
19 Sep 2012, 16:21 pm
@Heavens Game-544: danie craven was nothing but a racist! a broederbonder that isolated your Natal for the benefit of what today you refer to as the “North South Alliance”
you are such a flip flopper, one minute you don’t like the WP/NTvl alliance the next minute you’re lauding one of its architects
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